F for Finissage

What do Elmyr de Hory, Johan Vermeer, Jeff Koons, Clifford Irving, Amedeo Modigliani, Orson Welles, Han van Meegeren, Noam Toram and Pierre Huyghe have in common? All are connected, in a way or another, to famous cases of art forgery, manipulation and trickstery. All are proudly represented or evoked in The Crime Was Almost Perfect. Leading up to our exhibition finissage, Witte de With celebrates some master minds of manipulation and illusion, whose contribution to art history is possibly as precious as the work of “authentic” artists. Join Friso Lammertse (Curator of Old Masters, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam), Alexandra Midal (Free-lance curator, design theoretician, and serial-killer enthusiast, Paris) and Cristina Ricupero, (Independent curator and writer and Curator of the exhibition, Paris), around their respective fascination for forgery and fakes.

7.05-7.25pm – How to look at a fake? Vermeer, Van Meegeren and the Dutch art world
Presentation by Friso Lammertse

Does one look at a painting differently if it is fake? Can the history of forgeries teach us another way to look at art history, its actors and its system of values? Between 1937 and 1943, no less than six previously unknown paintings by Johannes Vermeer appeared on the market. In 1945, Dutch painter Han van Meegeren confessed that he was the author. How could museum directors and connoisseurs fall into the trap and mistake his forgeries for the absolute masterworks of the Delft master ? Boijmans van Beuningen museum curator and Van Meegeren expert Friso Lammertse explains how, before being a technically brilliant forgerer, Van Meegeren anticipated on the ideas art historians had on the art of Vermeer, and how his success is tied to the way the Dutch art world functions

7.25-7.40pm – Response by Alexandra Midal

7.40-8pm – Discussion and Q&A with the audience (moderated by Cristina Ricupero)

The evening will follow a Master Class by Alexandra Midal, Design for Crime: The Dark Side of Design from 11am to 5pm.